Weather

Have you noticed it’s cold? >> Frozen Florida iguanas cold-stunned, but probably not dead The recent freezing weather across most of the country has wreaked havoc on wildlife, including sea turtles along Texas' Gulf Coast. According to Texas Monthly, the turtles have been suffering from hypothermia, leading them to float near the surface of the water and putting them in danger of being eaten by predators or hit by boats. >> Nor'easter leaves cars frozen, flooded after icy waters fill high school parking lot The good news, though, is that emergency crews are helping nurse the turtles back to health. According to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, as of Tuesday afternoon, rescue crews had found 41 “cold-stunned” sea turtles in the water along the coast. >> Read more trending news In December, the Texas State Aquarium took in more than 100 hypothermia-stricken turtles to rehabilitate them.

Call it fortuitous timing. Hours before U.S. President Donald Trump issued a tweet last week panning climate change, a University of Georgia climatologist offered a lengthy pre-emptive explanation. >> ‘Bombogenesis': What is it and why is everyone saying it? “What we are seeing right now in the United States is just … well … wait for it … winter,” wrote Marshall Shepherd, director of the atmospheric science program at the University of Georgia and a former president of the American Meteorological Society. >> What is a Nor’easter and how does it form? Shepherd wrote that he would urge people to keep in mind that “weather is mood, climate is personality” and that weekly weather patterns say little about longer-term climate change. >> Trump tweets ‘good old Global Warming’ could help with frigid temps It came about 12 hours before Trump tweeted that forecasts were calling for record cold New Year’s Eve temperatures. >> See the tweet here Shepherd wrote that even as climate warms, the seasons will always change to winter and yield frigid weather, snowstorms and blizzards. After all, he said, winter is related to how the Earth is tilted on its axis as it revolves around the sun. >> Read more trending news Concludes Shepherd: 'For now, the message for this week and the next seven days is that winter is reminding us that it still exists and always will even as our climate warms. Prepare accordingly, stay warm and help others.

Did you miss the supermoon that delighted skygazers Sunday night? Here’s the good news: Photographers around the world shared must-see snapshots of the phenomenon on social media. >> Click here or scroll down to see the photos >> MORE PHOTOS: Supermoon 2017 around the world >> Sunday supermoon kicks off trilogy of spectacular lunar viewing >> Supermoon 2017: How to see, photograph the majestic ‘Full Cold Moon’ this weekend >> Read more trending news You’ll also get a chance to see other supermoons on Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2018.

4:37 a.m. EST Wednesday: The satellite launch scheduled for this morning was canceled due to upper level winds, according to NASA. ORIGINAL STORY: NASA, in partnership with the NOAA, will launch a satellite today that will help improve weather forecasts. >> PREVIOUS STORY: NASA postpones JPSS-1 weather satellite launch The launch for the JPSS-1 satellite is scheduled for 4:47 a.m. EST, according to NASA. A live stream of the launch will be available on NASA’s website. The satellites will help improve NOAA forecasts for the three- to seven-day time frame. The data collected from the JPSS is fed into the numerical forecast models to help improve them. The satellites will also collect atmospheric measurements, ground conditions and ocean conditions like vegetation, hurricane intensity and atmospheric moisture. >> Read more trending news The JPSS-1 will be launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California pending proper flight conditions. The launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was delayed until today. This satellite is a polar orbiting satellite, which means it will orbit the earth from the one pole to the other passing the equator 14 times a day. Full coverage of the planet will be provided then twice a day.

An asteroid is set to brush past Earth in a few weeks, and NASA is preparing a cool defense test in response. >> Read more trending news According to Newsweek, TC4 will fly as close at 27,000 miles to the Earth, about one-eighth of the distance between the Earth and the moon, giving scientists the opportunity to test its planetary defense systems in the event an asteroid or other hazardous object makes its way toward Earth. The asteroid is expected to pass the Earth on Oct. 12. >> On Rare.us: Here are the amazing records astronaut Peggy Whitson recently broke in space “Scientists have always appreciated knowing when an asteroid will make a close approach to and safely pass the Earth because they can make preparations to collect data to characterize and learn as much as possible about it,” explained Dr. Michael Kelley, a scientist working on the TC4 observation campaign, according to the Daily Mail. “This time we are adding in another layer of effort, using this asteroid flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid threat.” Scientists first began tracking TC4 in 2012.

You can smell Hurricane Irma’s leftovers before you see them in the Florida Keys. The powerful storm surge that roared over the Middle Keys left the main highway covered in seaweed, tiny crabs, shrimp and fish, now decomposing in plowed mounds by the side of U.S. 1. >> On PalmBeachPost.com: PHOTOS: Paradise lost in Florida Keys A roadblock at Florida City is preventing anyone but residents from traveling down the single road in and out of the string of tiny islands. But even residents can only go as far as Islamorada until the road is cleared and the Lower Keys bridges are inspected. Thirty percent of the Upper Keys lacks power, emergency management authorities said after a meeting Tuesday night. >> More Irma coverage from WFTV, Action News Jax and the Palm Beach Post In the Lower Keys, there is no power at all. In Key Largo, a few businesses have re-opened. A Winn Dixie. A liquor store. Here and there, a restaurant. Further down in Islamorada, the damage is more apparent. >> Hurricane Irma aftermath: Don't have internet, cable or cell service? Here's why Broken power poles dangle from power lines. By the sides of the road, gumbo limbo trees, denuded of leaves, lie broken and tangled with shredded aluminum, the bimini tops of boats and crab pots meant to catch the upcoming season’s stone crabs. In spots where U.S. 1 runs close to the ocean, storm surge covered the road with sand, now scraped intro roadside drifts, like the aftermath of a snow storm. In Lower Matecumbe Key, the ocean stormed over the road to Sandy Cove on the Gulf side, smashing the foundation of a three-story apartment building, which then pancaked down on itself, ending up a single story of cracked concrete with the sea still lapping at its destruction. Under it all, the wheels of a car can be seen in what had been the building’s garage. >> Read more trending news At Seabreeze Mobile Home Park on Islamorada’s Atlantic side, Billy Quinn stopped his bike on the blue concrete pad where his trailer had stood before Irma rearranged the park’s geography. “That’s it over there,” said Quinn, a carpenter, who said his family had owned the trailer for 56 years. “The wind and water moved it about 15 feet away.” He pointed to a rubber hose buried in coral rock pebbles. “That’s my pressure cleaner,” he said, “and my refrigerator is over there and one of my boat’s engines is half in the water.” Quinn wants FEMA to help clean up the park quickly, so he and the other residents can start cleaning up the Keys. >> On PalmBeachPost.com: How to apply for FEMA help The park, once a retiree paradise, was one of only a few places low-income workers could afford in the Keys’ pricey rental market. “This is low income, workforce housing,” Quinn said. “We’re waitresses, cooks, construction workers. We’re the ones that do the work for the tourists.” On the other side of the park, Sharon Noeller, a waitress at the Lorelei restaurant, a Keys landmark, started to cry, thinking of the three bins of her daughter’s photos still inside her wrecked trailer. >> Hurricane Irma damage: How to stay safe from tree, water damage in your home “This was our little oasis,” she said as her boyfriend, Kevin Collina, salvaged an unbroken glass table top from a pile of storm-tossed belongings. Their master bedroom was down what had been their road. “We had a little pool and an outdoor shower right on the ocean,” she said. “Now there’s no place left to go. No place we can afford, anyway.”

Wi-Fi and cellphone coverage remain spotty throughout South Florida and other locations along Hurricane Irma's path. There’s a simple reason: Like everyone else, the companies that provide it don’t have power, thanks to the storm. Cell towers across Florida have been cut off from the power grid and are relying on generators to keep going, spokespeople for two of the four major wireless carriers said. >> On PalmBeachPost.com: FPL begins full-scale post-Irma restoration, rebuild “The faster the power comes back on, the faster all telecommunication services can get back on,” a T-Mobile spokeswoman said Tuesday. “The power outages are just everywhere. It’s definitely causing a lot of effect across the board.” For Comcast, the main provider of Wi-Fi in Palm Beach County, it’s a similar story. >> On PalmBeachPost.com: PHOTOS: Hurricane Irma and aftermath “Many of our facilities in Palm Beach County, and virtually all of them in Broward County and further south in Miami-Dade, are functioning on generators due to the complete loss of commercial power,” Comcast spokeswoman Mindy Kramer said. Physical damage to cell towers doesn’t appear to be an issue. Towers are meant to withstand high winds. >> More Irma coverage from WFTV, Action News Jax and the Palm Beach Post “It’s really rare to see a tower topple over,” said Roni Singleton, a Sprint spokeswoman for Florida. But because of the power outages, the lack of coverage right now is worse in South Florida, and — bizarrely — much worse than Houston recently experienced despite that city’s massive flooding from Hurricane Harvey. >> Hurricane Irma damage: How to stay safe from tree, water damage in your home “There was really very little loss of mobile service in Houston, across all carriers,” the T-Mobile spokeswoman said. “Houston was able to maintain power the entire time.” Cell towers are required to have batteries that provide eight to 12 hours of power for first responders, the T-Mobile spokeswoman said. After that, they rely on generators for power. But fallen trees and debris have made it difficult to refuel some of the generators, she said. >> How to keep your kids entertained and your sanity when trapped at home by severe weather Verizon said close to 90 percent of its facilities were working, with many running on backup generators. “Massive refueling operations are underway to ensure those sites without commercial power continue in service for our customers and first responders,” the company said in a statement. >> Hurricane Irma aftermath: Power may be out for days, over a week for some in Georgia Sprint and Comcast said they’re sending satellite trucks and mobile platforms to South Florida to provide temporary coverage until power returns. AT&T said it was sending portable cell sites to the Keys, Miami and Tallahassee. >> Read more trending news None of the companies would give a time frame for when full coverage would return, but T-Mobile and Sprint said coverage was getting better by the hour. “I think by [Wednesday], we’ll see a huge improvement in the number of sites that are back up,” Singleton said.

Search and rescue operations continue in Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma. >> Read more trending news Authorities worked to restore communication with the island residents and began work Monday on reopening the single highway that connects the islands to the mainland. Irma was downgraded to a tropical storm Monday evening. By Tuesday, it was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. At least 17 people have died in the contiguous U.S. Power is beginning to be restored in Florida and Georgia. >>Minute-by-minute updates to this post have ceased. For the latest Hurricane Irma news: JACKSONVILLE - ActionNewsJax ORLANDO-WFTV PALM BEACH - Palm Beach Post ATLANTA - WSBTV ATLANTA - AJC

An 8-year-old Florida girl helped save her family from a fire that was started because of an electrical issue related to Hurricane Irma. >> Watch the news report here Jahnay Smith said she and her mother were sleeping in their home in West Park, near Miami, when she smelled smoke Saturday, according to WPLG. >> On PalmBeachPost.com: Get the latest news and information on Hurricane Irma Smith said they “escaped just in time” after she noticed the fire, but added, “Now our house is gone,” WPLG reported. >> Hurricane Irma: Live updates The Broward County Sheriff’s Office posted images of the destruction to Twitter and said three families are displaced after the fire. >> On PalmBeachPost.com: Woman learns by text that husband survived Irma “We’re getting two of the city vans to transport both families out to Lakeside Elementary — the new shelter that they just opened up,” Commissioner Kristine Judeikis told WPLG. “We're also coordinating with the Red Cross to make sure they get any necessary supplies, toiletries, that kind of stuff. We're trying to make it as easy a transition for them as we can.” >> Read more trending news Read more at WPLG.